History Flanderization / ComicBooks

** [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Silver the Hedgehog]] is cracked up of his stupidity from the original game appearance as this time he starts accusing ''everybody'' in Freedom Fighters one by one as a traitor. It gets so ridiculous Sonic not only stops taking him seriously, but starts hating his guts because he's accusing people who [[DudeNotFunny happens to recently get injured, left the team, or is mind controlled.]]

** Sonic's attitude has been cranked UpToEleven, to the point where he's making wisecracks during a battle with Enerjak, a being with seemingly limitless energy (though this may have been more for comic relief than anything, it was a tad excessive). [[TropesAreTools To be fair]], though, it seems to have slightly boosted his {{Badass}}-ness--at the cost of emotion (again, though, to be fair, he never really showed much emotion anyway). The part about emotion is slowly being subverted as of #200; ever since Sonic's apparently driven Robotnik totally, droolingly insane, he seems to actually regret having broken down the guy so completely. An aversion may come from the early comics, which had a much zanier and cartoony format thus exaggerated a lot of the characters' traits compared to their ''[[WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM SatAm]]'' counterparts, e.g. Sonic existed as a KarmicTrickster with a TotallyRadical mannerisms akin to his ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog AoStH]]'' counterpart, Sally's somewhat neurotic and no-nonsense attitude was exaggerated into a spoiled, mean-tempered prude and Robotnik was converted into even bigger a bumbling CardCarryingVillain than his 'Eggman' incarnations. This was reversed as the comic's writing tone became more serious and akin to the show, though some genuine cases of flanderization do pop up on occasion.
** Silver the Hedgehog is cracked up of his stupidity from the original ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' appearance as he starts accusing ''everybody'' in Freedom Fighters one by one as a traitor. It gets so ridiculous Sonic not only stops taking him seriously, but starts to hate his guts because he's accusing people who [[DudeNotFunny happens to recently get injured, left the team, or is mind controlled.]]

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'': Sonic's attitude has been cranked UpToEleven, to the point where he's making wisecracks during a battle with Enerjak, a being with seemingly limitless energy (though this may have been more for comic relief than anything, it was a tad excessive). [[TropesAreTools To be fair]], though, it seems to have slightly boosted his {{Badass}}-ness--at the cost of emotion (again, though, to be fair, he never really showed much emotion anyway). The part about emotion is slowly being subverted as of #200; ever since Sonic's apparently driven Robotnik totally, droolingly insane, he seems to actually regret having broken down the guy so completely. An aversion may come from the early comics, which had a much zanier and cartoony format thus exaggerated a lot of the characters' traits compared to their ''[[WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM SatAm]]'' counterparts, e.g. Sonic existed as a KarmicTrickster with a TotallyRadical mannerisms akin to his ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog AoStH]]'' counterpart, Sally's somewhat neurotic and no-nonsense attitude was exaggerated into a spoiled, mean-tempered prude and Robotnik was converted into even bigger a bumbling CardCarryingVillain than his 'Eggman' incarnations. This was reversed as the comic's writing tone became more serious and akin to the show, though some genuine cases of flanderization do pop up on occasion.
** Silver the Hedgehog is cracked up of his stupidity from the original ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' appearance as he starts blaming ''everybody'' in Freedom Fighters one by one as a traitor. It gets so ridiculous the team not only stops taking him seriously, but starts to hate his guts because he's accusing people who [[DudeNotFunny happens to recently get injured, left the team, or is mind controlled.]]

* During Joe Kelly's run, SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} was a talkative loon full of bad jokes and other wackiness. However he was also portrayed as a total psychotic with a loose, at best, grasp of sanity. All the wackiness was a cover to hide his immense mental problems and self-loathing and just the slightest nudge could send him over the edge in a violent, unsettling rage. Most subsequent writers pretty much ignore the latter part and play him up as little more than a goofy comedy character. That being said, [[TropesAreTools the character's popularity has, if anything, skyrocketed]] since his flanderization and his flanderized version has since become his more iconic and well-recognized version. It helps that Marvel already has characters to fill the [[{{Wolverine}} Canadian with Rage Issues, Regenerating Healing Powers, and a convoluted backstory complicated by Swiss-Cheese Memory]], and [[Franchise/SpiderMan a flamboyant joke-cracker in a red costume, whose snark covers up his inner angst]] roles.

** Wolverine's daughter/sister/OppositeSexClone, ComicBook/{{X-23}} suffers from much of the same treatment as he does. Once her [[ComicBook/InnocenceLost backstory]] was revealed, Laura was established as a highly-skilled fighter, and a [[GeniusBruiser very intelligent]] and [[BadassBookworm highly educated]] young girl with extensive assassin and black ops training, while ''[[ComicBook/NewMutants New X-Men]]'' expanded upon this further by revealing her to be a gifted strategist as well. Most writers now completely ignore everything after "highly-skilled fighter," and give her all the subtlety in combat of LeeroyJenkins. This is most egregious in ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'', where the writers give lipservice to her training and AwesomenessByAnalysis, and ''still'' have her decide the best strategy for taking down Apex (who is controlling a ''Sentinel'') is a [[IdiotBall direct frontal assault]].
*** Even the trigger scent has been subject to this. Initially, the conditioning the Facility subjected Laura to resulted in her rages focusing specifically on whatever was marked by the scent. By the time her solo series and ''Avengers Arena'' rolled around, the scent was now sending her after ''everything in sight''.

* [[DonaldDuck]] and Scrooge's portrayal in early Italian-produced comics exaggerated their character traits from the American comic of the time to comical extremes. Donald became a narcoleptic with a complete aversion to any kind of physical work and so dumb he genuinely believed two plus two equaled five point five, who treated his nephews more like slaves than family. Scrooge on the other hand was stunningly violent and cruel towards absolutely everyone, with zero aversions towards outright criminal acts (one story mentioning he made a lot of his fortune from running an opium smuggling cartel), usually getting away with anything and everything purely because he was rich. The characters would eventually morph back into something more closely resembling their America counterparts.

* ''TheUltimates'' have been criticized for being an extreme Flanderization of the Avengers. In their initial run, MarkMillar tended to take the most famous aspects of each Avenger -- ComicBook/{{Cap|tainAmerica}} being of the '40s, [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony]]'s hedonism, [[ComicBook/AntMan Pym]] slapping Janet, [[ComicBook/TheWasp Jan]] being slapped by Pym, [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]]'s rage, etc. -- and amplified them all several times over: Cap was painfully old-fashioned in speech and social views, Tony was always drinking and/or flirting with some blonde, Pym was a textbook wife-beater, Jan was a textbook battered wife, and Hulk was a murdering cannibal. This went into overdrive when Creator/JephLoeb took over the third volume. Tony was always in a drunken stupor and Cap spontaneously picked fights over [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda]]'s choice of attire.

** The Joker has gone through this. Originally he was just a very wily criminal whose modus operandi was little more than "shits and giggles". Then came the Dark Age of comic books, and all of a sudden the Joker is the Yin to Batman's Yang, with just about every story over the last 20-plus years being about his feud with the Caped Crusader. You'd be hard-pressed to find a story involving the Joker committing a crime that ''wasn't'' meant to be an attack on Batman.

** The Joker has gone through this. Originally he was just a very wily criminal whose modus operandi was little more than "shits and giggles". Then came the Dark Age of comic books, and all of a sudden the Joker is the Yin to Batman's Yang, with just about every story over the last 20-plus years being about his feud with Batman. You'd be hard-pressed to find a story involving the Joker committing a crime that ''wasn't'' meant to be an attack on Batman.

*** One of the chief gains of ''ComicBook/AllNewXMen'', which brings the original team of X-Men into the future to stay with time travel, is, alongside reintroducing Jean Grey without actually [[DeathIsCheap bringing her back from the dead]], that Teen Cyclops is a version of the character with both flaws and things working for him instead of a few redeeming qualities that very occasionally shine through an irrationally militant mindset, and who hasn't alienated most of the X-Men to some degree by being a total hardass.

* TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks is basically one huge flanderization of TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks, especially the "{{dark|erAndEdgier}}" contents.

** To a lesser extent, Stephanie Brown started off as a somewhat cynical and troubled girl with low self esteem who was also fairly snarky and a little quirky, but through character development she learnt to let go of her troubles and focus on the positives, but was still constantly facing painful troubles. [[{{Batgirl 2009}} By the time she became the new Batgirl]], though, she became known as 'the fun one' of the Bat family, being full of hope regardless of what the family faces. In a case of TropesAreNotBad, most fans generally ''like'' this move, and enjoy the fact it makes Steph stand out among the otherwise troubled and angsty members of the Bat Family.

* ''TheUltimates'' have been criticized for being an extreme Flanderization of the Avengers. In their initial run, MarkMillar tended to take the most famous aspects of each Avenger--ComicBook/{{Cap|tainAmerica}} being of the 40's, [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony]]'s hedonism, [[ComicBook/{{Ant-Man}} Pym]] slapping Janet, [[TheWasp Jan]] being slapped by Pym, [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]]'s rage, etc--and amplified them all several times over: Cap was painfully old-fashioned in speech and social views, Tony was always drinking and/or flirting with some blonde, Pym was a textbook wife-beater, Jan was a textbook battered wife, and Hulk was a murdering cannibal. This went into overdrive when Creator/JephLoeb took over the third volume. Tony was always in a drunken stupor and Cap spontaneously picked fights over [[ScarletWitch Wanda]]'s choice of attire.
* Comicbook/{{X-Men}}
** {{Wolverine}} is a case study. During the [[TheEighties '80s]] considerable CharacterDevelopment evolved the character from a one-note JerkAss prone to UnstoppableRage to a wise, intelligent, multitalented, and skilled warrior/mentor (with just enough issues to avoid CanonSue status). Then he [[PopularityPower got popular]] and the LowestCommonDenominator of Captain Fuzzity [=McStabStab=] won out [[WolverinePublicity with all the guest-shots]] even as they ramped his HealingFactor to UpToEleven, making him pretty much the definition of a CanonSue. [[EnsembleDarkhorse And he's still the most popular character of the whole franchise]]. Because being BadAss is the ''only'' thing he seems to need. And while his edges seem to have been smothed in the X-Men comics, buzz has it as of SDCC '13 that they're going to do a major story where his killing tendencies threaten his place in the Avengers.
*** Even his powers became flanderized. At first, the idea behind his "quick healing factor" (note the word "quick") seemed to be that he simply healed faster than normal people. By some point, it was decreed that he could regenerate from a single-celled organism and was basically unkillable and therefore immortal.
*** Under writer Jason Aaron, another example has occurred. While Logan always had kind of a rivalry with Cyclops, the two are friends and can agree on some things, and Logan ''does'' respect Scott. Furthermore, while Logan ''is'' a Jerkass, he's willing to admit when he's wrong. Under the aforementioned writer, Logan's Jerkass tendencies have become his dominant trait, with him mouthing off about why Cyke sucks literally every time the two meet, and he outright ignores anything good the guy does.

* Hank Pym (aka ComicBook/{{Ant-Man}}) has suffered from this perhaps more than any other Marvel character. During a single incident in which he was suffering a nervous breakdown, [[NeverLiveItDown/ComicBooks Hank struck his wife]], Janet Van Dyne (TheWasp). Dozens of writers over the years have gone back to this time and again, with at least three different stories having been told about the two of them coming to terms with what happened. Hank's remorse is so Flanderized and extreme that he called ''himself'' the Wasp when [[DeathIsCheap she was thought to be dead]]. It's worth noting that both Spider-Man and Mr. Fantastic have hit their significant others in moments of extreme stress. While fans didn't much like either incident, neither character is regarded primarily as a "wife-beater" the way Pym is. And of course almost every female romantically tied to a superhero — whether she herself is super-powered or not — has struck her significant other, and none of those incidents have ever been exaggerated as a trait of the character. [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale But that's a different problem entirely.]]

** [[Characters/{{X-MenVillains}} Mojo]] was introduced in a miniseries as a psychotic EldritchAbomination obsessed whose very presence actually caused living things to wither and die and who casually committed MindRape. He also commissioned genetically-engineered slaves to act in movies to entertain him. Even Comicbook/DoctorStrange feared what would happen if he stayed on Earth for long. As soon as he was brought into the main X-Men comics, the mystical powers and murderous demeanor were downplayed and the media obsession was turned UpToEleven, so Mojo immediately became a comedic villain used to spoof the entertainment industry. He's still pretty damn horrible, though, and his comedic personality makes it worse when he does something like torturing Nocturne ForTheEvulz, or cheerfully sending someone to ''have their spine freaking removed''.

** [[Characters/{{X-MenOtherTeams}} Surge]], whose Jerkass tendencies have been blown way out of proportion. While she was initially depicted as being kind of a JerkAss, it's understandable (she was disowned by her father for being a mutant and was a bum who had to take drugs to sort-of control her powers), she was always more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold and she was always kind to those she considered friends. While she was always an outspoken, rebellious smart ass, her later depictions make her much harder to sympathise with as she has been portrayed as an unrelenting bitch and it has become her most dominant characteristic. She has since entered Comic Book Limbo, though her brief appearance in ''Avengers Academy'' had her being more reasonable, and had her revert to her old portrayal of JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* TheUltimates are an interesting case of Flanderization. In their initial run, MarkMillar tended to take the most famous aspects of each Avenger (ComicBook/{{Cap|tainAmerica}} being of the 40's, [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony]]'s hedonism, [[ComicBook/{{Ant-Man}} Pym]] slapping Janet, [[TheWasp Jan]] being slapped by Pym, [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]]'s rage, etc) and amplified them all several times over (Cap was painfully old-fashioned in speech and social views, Tony was always drinking and/or flirting with some blonde, Pym was a textbook wife-beater, Jan was a textbook battered wife, and Hulk was a murdering cannibal). This went into overdrive when Creator/JephLoeb took over the third volume. Tony was always in a drunken stupor and Cap spontaneously picked fights over [[ScarletWitch Wanda]]'s choice of attire.

* As of the beginning of Fraction's {{ComicBook/Hawkeye}}, Clint Barton went from a loveable screw-up who fixes his problems but always fears that he isn't good enough in spite of how highly his friends and teammtes regard, serial monogamist, who was and was considered one of the best Avengers by his teammates to a perpetual screw-up, who can't keep it in his pants and cheats on his girlfriend, and is perpetually a punchline because he's perceived as being stupid and wrong.

** Johnny Storm started off as a somewhat-conceited daredevil hero of the team. Since the eighties, he's become increasingly more stupid and narcissistic, to the point where he now appears to be a [[TheDitz ditzy]], AmbiguouslyGay metrosexual completely in love with himself.

** Also when he was first introduced, he was a real scrapper and not afraid to get in the face of authority figures. That changed around WorldWarII along with Batman, however by the end of the fifties, he was flanderized into the ultimate boy scout and establishment figure. By the '80s, he'd become somewhat more morally ambiguous and a bit more cynical about people in power, especially after the ''ManOfSteel'' reboot.